Another Civil War coffee story
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| Cover of Feeding Lee's Army of Northern Virginia By Michael C. Hardy |
In the chaos of the Civil War, coffee emerged as more than a simple beverage—it was a lifeline. Soldiers faced relentless hardship in camp or on the march, and coffee-making became an act of resourcefulness, ingenuity, and - above all - necessity. Although rudimentary equipment and improvised techniques were the norm, their cherished cup of coffee offered a rare comfort, boosted morale and provided a small sense of normalcy in the turbulence of war.
Yet for the Confederacy, even this small comfort was not spared from the Union blockade. Proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, the blockade cut off vital supplies, including coffee, from reaching the South. And when traditional coffee wasn’t an option, Southern soldiers proved that necessity truly is the mother of invention, as they sought alternatives to create their "perfect cup" of pseudo-coffee.
Or, as they called it: "Lincoln Coffee."
From chicory and roasted corn to peanuts, sweet potatoes, and occasionally more questionable ingredients, these substitutes became attempts to mimic the treasured beverage. Creativity flourished, and the results varied wildly—from heartwarming ingenuity to outright desperation.
General George Pickett wrote a loving letter to his new wife in 1864, thanking her for the thoughtful coffee blend she prepared for him and his staff: "…And the coffee—well, no Mocha or Java ever tasted half so good as this rye-sweet-potato blend! And think of your thoughtfulness in wrapping blankets around the jugs to keep the coffee hot. Bless your thoughtful heart!" [1]
On the other hand, Luther W. Hopkins of the 6th Virginia Infantry reflected on a far less appetizing version of Lincoln Coffee:
During the winter months, when we needed some kind of beverage to wash down our hardtack, the only thing we could get was horse feed, which was roasted and boiled. We called it coffee. It was very good then. We had to rob our horses for this, and we all felt mean when we did it. [1]
The Confederate struggle for coffee substitutes drew the attention of outsiders as well. Lt. Col. Fremantle—a British officer visiting the Southern states in 1863—commented on the ingenuity (and shortcomings) of these efforts:
The loss of coffee afflicts the Confederates even more than the loss of spirits [alcohol]; and they exercise their ingenuity in devising substitutes, which are not generally very successful. [2]
Private Alexander Erskine of the 4th Texas Infantry echoed this sentiment in a letter to his wife in 1862: "How much I miss the good coffee I used to get at home. I would cheerfully pay one dollar for as much like it as I could drink…" [1]
Some soldiers even waxed poetic in their longing for coffee. Carlton McCarthy of the Richmond Howitzers beautifully captured this sentiment: "What is that faint aroma which steals about on the night air? Is it a celestial breeze? No! it is the mist of the coffee-boiler. Do you not hear the tumult of the tumbling water?" [1]
Southern soldiers frustration with Lincoln Coffee sometimes boiled over into battlefield scavenging - even in the midst of combat. Frank Montgomery of the 1st Mississippi Cavalry recounted an incident during the Atlanta Campaign:
That night, I remember, every man of the command had coffee in abundance, for so closely had we pursued that the enemy had thrown away many haversacks and bags of rations they had. [1]
Toward the end of the war, the Confederates were happy to get any coffee beans - no matter in what condition or under what circumstances. Captain Henry C. Dickinson - a Union prisoner - recorded an epic "real coffee" moment for them in a January 1865 diary entry: "Last Monday the Yanks condemned a barrel of green coffee and turned it over to us. It smelled awfully, but we scalded it, then toasted it and now drink it with avidity." [3]
It was Confederate War Department clerk, John Beauchamp Jones, however, who offered perhaps the most poignant reflection in 1864 on the irreplaceable nature of real coffee. In his diary, he wrote:
I drank two cups of coffee this morning, which seem to have had an extraordinary effect upon my strength, activity, and spirits. Indeed, the discontinuance of the use of this beverage…may have caused the diminution of all. [1]
Although many of these letters, diaries, and reminiscences mention the scarcity of real coffee and the use of a wide variety of substitutes, Michael C. Hardy's research offers a more nuanced perspective on this narrative. In his book, Feeding the Army of Northern Virginia, Hardy analyzed over 200 letters and uncovered conclusions that challenge the prevailing belief that all Confederates were cut off from imported coffee throughout the war. According to his findings, this assumption is overly generalized and not entirely accurate. Notably, Hardy observed that in the 200 letters and diary sets he studied, Confederate soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia never mentioned making coffee from chicory, burnt corn, peas, sweet potatoes, or other substitutes often associated with the era. This suggests that the shortages and the use of such substitutes may have been more common among civilians rather than soldiers—or perhaps it was a regional phenomenon. As Hardy notes, much more research is needed to fully understand the complexities of the Confederate coffee supply during the war. [4]
Real coffee or Lincoln Coffee? While countless letters and diaries highlight the creativity behind coffee substitutes, Michael C. Hardy’s research reminds us that the narrative may be more nuanced. His findings suggest that the availability of real coffee during the Civil War was not as uniformly dire as commonly believed, and the use of substitutes might have been a predominantly civilian experience—or limited to certain regions of the South.
Perhaps - as with many aspects of society - the coffee supply during the war was subject to the divide between "the haves" and "the have-nots". Richmond resident Sallie Brock Putnam reflected on this disparity in her memoirs years later: "During the existence of the war, coffee was a luxury in which only the most wealthy could constantly indulge...and if disposed to indulge in extravagance at all, the people showed it only by occasional and costly indulgence in the luxurious beverage." [1]
This bittersweet truth underscores how coffee—even in its absence—symbolized more than just a drink; it was a marker of privilege, of resilience, and of a shared yearning for comfort in the face of hardship.
There are millions of stories from the Irrepressible Conflict. These were just some of them.
Mac
If you enjoyed this topic, dive into more posts on my 'Coffee Chronicles' page to explore the quirky and essential role coffee played in the War Between the States.
Works Cited
[1] "Extra Voices: Coffee". Civil War Monitor website - December 21, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
[2] Fremantle, Sir Arthur James Lyon (1864) Three Months in the Southern States: April, June 1863. Mobile, AL: S.H. Goetzel, p.41.
[3] Dickinson, Henry (1910) Diary of Capt. Henry C. Dickinson, C. S. A. Denver, CO: Press of Williamson-Haffner Co.
[4] Hardy, Michael C. (2025) Feeding Lee's Army of Nothern Virginia. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie Publishing.
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